A 23-year-old who was drafted 22nd overall all of 10 months ago is "in all likelihood" done for his career because of an injury that might make him miss a couple of preseason games?

EDIT: I see from slipknottin's later post that I misunderstood the original post. I thought slipknottin meant that Thomas being out six months was likely the end of his career, but I see that slipknottin meant that rather than six months, the injury is likely career-ending. While saying that it is "in all likelihood" the end of his career still appears to me to be an overstatement, but it's not crazy, as I originally thought it was. Apologies, slipknottin.

By the way, one nitpick: I just noticed that the blurb underneath the title link calls Thomas a "2009 first-round pick" when he was in fact a 2010 first-round pick.

yes, but 48% of statys are 83% abloney and 36% ham. or soemthng like that. naot totoally sure, also hammeoered by theh Sierra Nevada Glisasde tongith. veryty goodo stufuf to dink on a stauryday night. espeicially when dont have to get up at 1pm on sunday to wtatch nfl games. gerta to wytch NFL sept-to dec and fits 2 playoff wkekends but then chamspinship gamems startr ltare in day so can drink hevaily night before those games

No, it doesn't. In 1960, sure a ruptured Achilles was a career ender. In 2011, we have a bit more medical knowledge. A number of professional athletes have ruptured their Achilles, had surgery, and then played at a high level.

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Sports talk radio and sports message boards are the killing fields of intellectual discourse.

It's not just the ruptured achilles, though. Since leaving college, Thomas has fractured a foot, torn scar tissue in said foot after rehabbing that injury and returning to practice, missed five weeks with a sprained ankle and now this. Maybe it's just bad luck, but at this point there has to be a suspicion that he will never be able to stay healthy. He's not Bennie Joppru yet, but he kinda seems like he might be headed that way. He'll be on a roster for another couple of years, though, no doubt about that.

I suspect it's neither bad luck nor an inability to stay healthy. I suspect this is a textbook case of cascade injuries. First, Thomas fractured his foot. Then Thomas tore scar tissue by trying too return too quickly from his fractured foot. Then Thomas sprained his ankle while in all likelihood compensating in his gait for the fact that he returned too quickly from fracturing his foot. All three individual injuries can trace their roots back to the fractured foot and the decisions to try to return before he was ready. The article doesn't say how he ruptured his Achilles- it's very possible that the Achilles was also a cascade injury caused by Thomas compensating for his foot and his ankle. In which case, the Achilles might actually prove to be a blessing in disguise, because it gets him off his feet long enough for the root of all his injuries (the fractured foot) to heal up properly.

Assuming, of course, that Thomas can come back from the ruptured Achilles, and that he doesn't rush himself back from this one, too.

Could be, though there was a fair old gap between Thomas returning from the torn scar tissue and missing time due to the ankle. He was listed as Questionable (foot) for Week 1, Probable (foot) for Week 2, then doesn't appear on the injury report again until Week 6, when he was Questionable (concussion). The ankle injury occurred at some point in the Week 11 game against the Chargers - I don't know whether from contact or not. I understand the principle of cascade injuries, but I'm not sure that's what's happened here.

There's a difference between "healthy enough to play" and "healthy enough to play without altering any biomechanics". Lots of injuries that don't land a player on the injury report are still more than sufficient to cascade. An injury that is uncomfortable but which has no chance of worsening might as well not even be an injury as far as the injury report is concerned, but that lingering pain is all it takes for an athlete to shift a little bit of his weight from his injured foot to his uninjured one.

Obviously no one knows whether the sprained ankle was a cascade injury except for whatever medical professionals have been working with Thomas, I'm just saying, don't let the fact that he wasn't on the injury report fool you into thinking that he wasn't still compensating for the injury.

Were any of that "a number of professinal athletes" also deep threat receivers with a laundry list of other foot-related injuries? No, there is no law that requires his career to be over from this injury, but it's a significant hurdle to overcome for a guy who even before this injury couldn't stay on the field.

Interesting to check this out. It's apparently a 36% chance a player will not come back from this injury in the modern NFL. That's probably skewed a bit, since older players like DT Kemoeatu are not as likely to go through the rehab.

One more problem for him, though, is that almost certainly within a month he's going to be rehabbing on his own: without access to team doctors, therapists, etc. How is that going to affect his recovery time? I honestly have no idea, but it's another wild card floating over the young man's future.

I'd be extremely surprised if insurance coverage wasn't provided by the union or they weren't getting a stipend to pay for it themselves. If they're stockpiling money to help pay guys during the lockout they certainly would have insurance in mind.

and baout thsi Broncos WR, yes bad news for D. Broncos. D. Thomas probably goignt o struggle to get back to what he once was as far as pseed concerned and quick burts. But has good sixe, so maybe can become a possession type recievcer. Little eaisier for QBV to come back from this injury )see D. Marino, V. tetsvaderde), but psoition that require speed and jumping and such is more difficult.

Ruptured Achilles is a bad one, all right, particularly for somebody who expects to retain that sudden burst that makes the difference between good and great. But there's no stigma attached to rehabbing away from Denver, and it's probably a smart move on his part.

The Broncs are a troubled franchise that's managed to find a way to be unlucky, too.

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